Sachi Hamano is a legendary female Pink filmmaker. She is the most prolific female director in Japan, having directed more than 300 films.
Hamano was born on March 19th, 1948. She began her career at Wakamatsu Productions in 1968, but soon quit because of discrimination. She directed her first Pink Eiga in 1971, and since then has continued making films. Since 1998, she has shifted her focus to producing and directing general films.
She began her career in the Pink Eiga industry because the mainstream Japanese film industry didn’t accept women as anything aside from actresses. The world of Pink Eiga only marginally accepted her, and she experienced harsh discrimination. To protect herself at night, she often slept with a knife to fend off male staff members or actors that tried to crawl into her bed. Despite these early hardships, Hamano kept her passion for film and never gave up.
She really hates stereotypical female characters that her male counterparts tend to like. In fact, she has felt discomfort during Japanese movies that only portray the ideal or convenient women from a male perspective. She portrays heroines who aggressively try to enjoy sex and actively pursue their desires; on the other hand, male directors often tend to regard female characters merely as physical objects of desire. Her films’ main theme is active Eros of women.
In 1997, the “Tokyo International Women’s Film Festival” officially declared Kinuyo Tanaka as the best female director in Japan, despite the fact that she had only directed 6 films, while Hamano has directed over 300 Pink Eigas. When she heard this news, she was deeply disappointed that they had ignored her career, which led her to produce mainstream films in order to prove herself to those who had ignored her great career.
Awards:
• 2002 Torino International Female Film Festival, Second Grand Prix • 2002 Official Selection of Montreal International Film Festival • 2003 Philadelphia International G&L Film Festival, Grand Prix Filmography:• The Cricket Girl (2006) • Sex High School Reunion (2006) • Maid in Japan (2006) • The Orgasm Counselor (2004) • The Horny Wives (2003) • Lily Festival (2001) • In Search of a Lost Writer: Wandering in the World of the Seventh Sense (1998) • Whore Hospital (1997) • Abnormal Lesbian (1989) • The Groper Train - Mini Skirt (1988)
